Thread by @sfqomhz

After Patriots Asia wrote an article about the liberal youth of Malaysia on Twitter, ISMA, GPS, and PEMBINA start popping up by the horde on this platform.

ISMA has created numerous subgroups on Facebook to help with virality of posts. They're bringing that to Twitter now.

Let me tell you about religious groups like ISMA: They don't care about Islam being a religion of peace, they care about Islam being a religion of power.

They're not here to invite people into religion, they're here to empower the fundamentalists that already exist.

The last thing you'd find is ISMA saying that God accepts and forgives, that Islam promotes harmonious living, that Muslims are supposed to be kind.

You'll find them condemning anyone who is not aligned with them and using the power of political religion to justify themselves.

The ironic part about ISMA constantly using religion to justify discrimination and incite hatred is that it only proves the anti-Islam factions right but that's their plan.

To instigate their frustrations with Islam and further amplifying the voices of Islamic fundamentalists.

It's very easy for them to sort out anyone who disagrees with them as Muslim liberals (whatever their twisted definition of "liberalism" is) and then throw them into the anti-Islam faction, which in result strengthens the "us versus them" divide.

It's up to you to rebuke their statements or not, but as someone who has had articles of themselves written by ISMA, I've come to realise any form of discussion is futile with them.

They won't listen, because their aim is not to understand or to dialogue, but to gain allies.

Beberapa banyak dalil pun korang guna dengan orang macam ISMA untuk menunjukkan kepelbagaian cara pemikiran dan pentingnya respek perbezaan ini selagi cara pemikiran itu tidak menganiaya orang lain, mereka akan tutup telinga. Mereka tidak akan dengar.

In the end, the battle to lessen Islamophobia is lost to Muslims themselves. The same people who talk against the West for their anti-Islamic ways are the same people who preach anti-humanitarian ways in their own countries.

It turns into a vicious circle. There's no way out.

People like ISMA will be the first to blame external sources for the fall of Islam, not realising that their incessant smear campaigns only strengthen the Muslim divide — but like I said, they don't care. It gives them more incentive to continue what they're doing.

Even in writing this thread, I feel uncomfortable using terms like "liberal" and "fundamentalist". I am aware that I have used these words a great deal before, but I'm trying to not use it as much because it also contributes to the "us versus them" mentality.

I would prefer to use terms like "liberal", "conservative", and "fundamentalist" to talk about ways of thinking instead of painting someone with one brush. I know people who are seemingly conservative who are quite liberal in thinking and vice versa.

However, I am digressing.

My main point is that ISMA always has had a plan — to ensure, not to ensure the sanctity of Islam, but to ensure the preservation of power through Islam.

How you choose to engage with them is absolutely up to you. I've personally given up on them a long time ago.